Download Common cocklebur

Common cocklebur
Xanthium strumarium
Minnesota C-Value: 0
Wetland Indicator Status: FAC
Native
Leaves: Alternate, ovate to nearly
round, some 3-5 lobed, margins with
blunt teeth, petioles 3-10 cm long.
Stems: Rough and often brown
spotted, 7 in. - 5 ft long.
Flowers and fruit: Small, male flowers
on short, terminal branches. Female
flowers clustered in axils. Produces a
brown, spiny bur that attaches easily
to passers-by.
Plant communities: Shores,
streambanks, wet meadows,
disturbed fields and edges. Colonizes
mudflats.
Comments: Annual weed considered
noxious in some counties. Previously
classified as Xanthium pensylvanicum.
The long-petioled, very large leaves
make this plant fairly easy to identify
when it is not in flower or when burs
are absent.
2008